The year ahead: Adland CEOs reveal their big calls for 2026

As the media, marketing and creative sectors begin to wind down for the year, the real questions begin: What’s waiting for adland in 2026? Which issues will dominate? Where will technology take us next, and so on.



So we asked some of the top CEOs and Founders of media businesses from across the advertising landscape to share their sharpest predictions on the challenges, shifts and opportunities heading our way next year…

Adrienn Major, Founder, POD LDN

“In 2026 I think we will see even more work created with AI. Perhaps we’ll even stop mentioning that AI was used, as it becomes the norm.

“More agencies will develop their own tools, existing players like Adobe will continue to change the game with new releases.

“We might even get an AI TV series starring the likes of Tilly Norwood. But on the downside of tech progress, we’ll see more cyber hacks and systems failures.

“AWS and Cloudflare were just the start. So maybe we’ll all just be doomscrolling on LinkedIn as we wait for websites to load.”

James Kirkham, Founder, ICONIC

“Platforms are arming creators with AI tools for production, targeting and small business management – which will see the solo creator space shift as the space is already creaking with competition, margin pressure etc.

“So in 2026 we will see more structured entities emerge, in effect micro-agencies built like creator cooperatives, community media networks or local houses that blend creators, editors, community managers and even small sales teams.

“They’ll be like micro-agencies, but each rooted in a specific culture such as a football side of town, or a specific scene in dance culture, or a gaming subculture.

“Comment sections, Discord servers and community pages become like their real assets. For brands, the shift will be from ‘find me one big influencer;’ to ‘plug me into the right network’.”

Kate Tancred, CEO, Founder, Untold Fable

“Content companies will need to fully re-architect for the transition between traditional production and AI. We’re already seeing a rapid rise in AI-driven and hybrid briefs — what began as “test and learn” budgets is quickly maturing as tools improve and client confidence grows.

“At Untold Fable, our 8,000+ global filmmakers now include a fast-growing cohort of AI specialists, and hybrid workflows are becoming the norm.

“Big brands are shifting spend, asset-heavy categories are moving fastest, and the real creative battleground will be differentiation as AI filmmaking scales at pace.”

Mike Craddock, co-Founder & CEO, NewGen

“2026 will be the year where creator marketing and social strategy fully converge. The lines between “influencer,” “UGC,” and “creative” will continue to blur, and brands will increasingly treat creators as an extension of their core marketing team rather than a bolt-on channel.

“Micro-creators and UGC specialists will become essential to every brand’s playbook. Their ability to produce authentic, platform-native content at scale will outpace traditional production models, especially as social algorithms prioritise real, relatable storytelling over polished ads.

“Gifting, earned media and UGC-driven workflows will become mainstream, forming the backbone of always-on social output.

“With more creators in the market than ever and more noise in the feed, the campaigns that break through will be deeply creative, strategically led and insight-driven.

“The brands that win in 2026 are the ones who treat creators like creative partners, not just media units, tapping into their ideas, cultural proximity and storytelling power to unlock impact that traditional advertising can’t deliver.

“In short: creator-led thinking won’t sit next to a brand’s social strategy, it will be the social strategy.”

Neil Dennis, CEO, Experience, GAIN

“2026 will be the year experience finally becomes commercial. Not in the sense of squeezing more minutes from teams, but in moving beyond intuition and grounding decisions in real insight.

“AI will close the gap between data and action, giving brands faster clarity on what customers need and why. The winners will be those who blend creativity with evidence and build experiences that feel human even when powered by intelligent systems.

“For agencies, the shift is clear. Depth of expertise, transparent value and a focus on measurable outcomes will separate true partners from suppliers.”

Ian Henderson, CEO and Founder, AML

“Media fragmentation means change is coming fast; from top-down, one to many, TV-led broadcast glory to bottom-up, consumer-led, social-driven brands; where the driver is not one talked-about ad but always-on, lived experience.

“The key skill for CMOs and agencies will be creating and managing the brand story, the glue that holds it and its audiences together.

“That’s hard, complicated and needs a clear, emotionally resonant and simple creative idea at its core – something that can’t (yet) be automated.

“Scary, but exciting. And why we think AML’s ‘simple ideas for a complicated world’ have more value than ever.”

Tim Ringel, Global CEO, Meet The People

“It’s been everywhere in 2025 and the stream of AI’abilities and AI’adoption will not end in 2026.

“Nevertheless we will see the first effects of the “everything can be done with AI” pendulum swing back to “human creative might be better after all” in the new year.

“When, where it will start is unclear but I strongly believe it will happen as consumers will get tired of endless content created by AI and the shiny object syndrome will wear off a bit in 2026.

“Sadly, I believe we will see more consolidation of roles and people’s responsibility under the misconception that AI can solve infrastructural legacy problems of the traditional Holding Companies business model.

“Cheap is sexy with large corporations who are trying to wow the stock market with quarterly business improvements – that trend will accelerate in 2026 even further.

“This means that quantity, also fuelled by accessibility of AI, will rule over quality for another year, especially in creative and content.

“We will see more and more agencies shifting to deliverable models in compensation, a further fragmentation into freelance work as well as proprietary tools/tech/platforms being launched and used by Media and Performance Agencies.

“Thanks to workforce reshuffling, as we have seen it in 2025, entry barriers being pulled down further to build and start smaller agencies as well as price pressure from clients – we will see a renaissance of “Ideas” co-created by these dynamics on smaller brands who will allow for more “risk” in their creative, media activation, experiential and retail strategies.

“I call it the liberation of ideas and a renaissance of what we can expect from breakthrough teams, agencies and clients.”

Ian Maxwell, CEO, Converge

“For all the bluster behind the AI rollout, most of the focus in ad tech has been on bottom line growth: a marginal efficiency gain here, a chat interface there.

“Pushing down costs and squeezing out optimisations are worthy business endeavours, but it’s the pursuit of top line growth that drives true transformation, and it will remain out of reach if AI is treated as a bolt-on rather than an opportunity to rebuild digital advertising’s foundations.

“Next year will see the bottom line normalise and the top line become the new battleground. Those treating AI as a mere efficiency driver will eventually extract all they can from automation, with its ubiquity leaving little room for a competitive advantage.

“Meanwhile, those using AI to deliver truly innovative solutions free from years of inherited tech debt will show the value of a new way of doing things, rather than doing the same thing a little faster.”

Alexander Igelsböck, CEO & co-Founder, Adverity

“As we look to 2026, three trends will stand out – all driven by the need for complete, accurate data.

“First, marketers will increasingly prioritise strong data foundations, ensuring data quality is in place for interconnected AI agents to deliver meaningful results in forecasting, reporting, and campaign optimisation.

“Second, we’ll see a shift toward composability, with more marketers adopting their own data warehouses and moving away from traditional systems to gain better governance and cost-efficient infrastructure. Composability will become essential for staying responsive, reducing risk, and turning constant change into an advantage over the next year.

“Finally, as composable tech grows, MCPs will rise as marketers work to break down data silos. AI applications will need seamless communication and maintained context across different systems to properly support multi-step, cross-channel workflows.”

Steve Kemish, CEO, IMG

“2026 is set to be the year that the AI bubble bursts.

“Certain tools will likely go bust, or be acquired by others, meaning your terms of licence and service may be changed with a new owner.

“That requires more due diligence, as a new owner might not be able to operate in a part of the world that doesn’t have the same rules on data/AI usage, such as EU vs US.

“This could all mean increased cost and complexity for the martech stack, plus the potential ‘rug pull’ risk of a service you relied on not being there anymore.”

Chris Cookson, CEO, Uncovered

“Fragmentation will break traditional media — and social will glue it back together!”

“By 2026, the media landscape will become further fragmented. Audiences will spend more time across a mix of platforms. As this changes, the ability for brands to reach everyone in one place becomes more difficult, however, the one place people are sure to return to will be social media.

“Because of this, social is likely to play an even bigger and more central role to play in how brands organise their marketing ecosystem.

“Social will no longer be an add-on, but rather a channel that helps shape their creative decisions and strategy.”

David Nelson, co-Founder and CEO, Limelight Inc

“I expect to see CTV and DOOH continue on their upward trajectory in 2026. AI will also dominate headlines, but its role is being redefined – to be truly effective, it needs the human touch.

“Supply curation will continue to dominate conversations around programmatic.

“Our view is that with the right guidance and programmatic expertise, ad networks can become a great supply curator as their role in the industry evolves.”

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO and Founder, esbconnect

“The rise in fake content, together with the sheer volume of content out there. is going to erode consumer trust and create more noise – the brands who win out will be those who succeed in building authenticity and community in spaces they own.

“AI will handle optimisation, but strategic storytelling will remain an invaluable human skill. Humans are still better than AI at coming up with innovative ideas and value propositions, but AI will become better at helping to surface this information.

“Granular data sets for consumer targeting – powered by AI: The sheer volume of data available to be processed is too much for a human to comprehend.

“AI will be able to find patterns at speed, build models which can use more data for better accuracy and surface information that may invalidate a model or ID.

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso

“It’s been a cliche for a while, but walled gardens are showing signs of crumbling. Simply, they don’t offer the value, efficiency or transparency that can be found on the open web.

“Brands and advertisers need to find adtech partners that reflect their values, offering a powerful, ethical supply chain that drives performance.

“SMEs and medium sized businesses also need to realise they have access to powerful programmatic tools through various platforms, and that size is no longer a barrier to entry in digital advertising.

“Embracing the latest tech is also key. It has issues, but AI is beginning to become a really powerful tool – when combined with human integrity and insight – and can be used to ease workflows and reach consumers faster, and at greater scale.

“CTV is also one of digital advertisements’ fastest growing sectors. Its ability to reach consumers in a place where attention is held for hours has obvious attractions and, while there have been issues surrounding fragmentation and content overload, innovative ad formats are beginning to mitigate these issues and engage audiences effectively and efficiently.”

Chris Pettit, CEO and co-Founder, Revving

“Transactional-based Funding takes over the reins from invoice factoring: 2026 will be the year when the companies that keep the digital economy moving free themselves from the shackles of late payments.

“For too long, these have stifled innovation by strangling cash-flow, but a new model – Transactional-based Funding – is emerging that makes it possible for companies in the digital economy to easily access the money they are owed, without relying on invoice factoring, which is prone to fraud.”

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience

“AI will be ruthless in punishing irrelevant content: AI will simply ignore irrelevant content, posing a direct risk to legacy retail media setups. Presenting consumers, or their AI agents, with the most relevant offers and product recommendations for them will be more critical than ever.

“To survive the growth of AI as a channel, retailers need to move to relevance-first platforms that deeply integrate sponsored and organic results to deliver the best recommendations for the consumer.

“The retailers who enjoy success will be those that augment rather than override the shopping experience, that ensure bots aren’t blocked from accessing their sites, and that implement the Model Context Protocol so AI systems can interact precisely rather than stumble.”

Drew Ungvarsky, CEO and Founder Grow

Experience platforms will deliver brand value

“The brands doing the most interesting work in 2026 will be the ones who shift from chasing attention in short bursts to investing in experience platforms that evolve over time and reward repeat engagement.

“This shift changes not just what brands build, but how they bring value to their audiences. Platforms demand that brands earn attention by creating content and experiences that are worthy of seeking out and returning to.

“AI will also shun the spotlight, supporting these platforms behind the scenes, enabling personalisation and responsiveness. But the real differentiator will be sustained engagement, as brands focus on creating value over time with ever-evolving digital destinations.”

Creativity and technology will speak the same language

“In 2026, the distinction between ‘creative thinking’ and ‘technical execution’ will feel increasingly outdated. The strongest ideas will emerge from teams where creativity and technology work side by side, shaping concepts together rather than passing them across silos.

“We’re already seeing a backlash against work where AI is treated as the idea itself, or where technology is bolted on at the end. When teams are fragmented, the work shows. When they’re integrated, the technology disappears, and the experience feels effortless.

“As tools become more powerful and accessible, craft and judgement become the real differentiators. Which means knowing how ideas behave in real systems, and designing accordingly, is going to be so important in the next twelve months.”

AI-collaborative teams will take the lead

“After a period of rapid experimentation, 2026 will be less about proving who uses AI and more about how teams use it together. The pressure to adopt new tools has shown that technology only improves the work when people are all on the same page.

“Audiences are quick to spot when AI is used lazily or performatively. But when creative and technical teams collaborate closely, AI can become that quiet enabler, accelerating workflows, unlocking new possibilities and supporting better ideas.

“The best experiences don’t need to explain the technology behind them. They’ll reflect confidence, clarity and care in how they were made.

“The future isn’t about AI leading creativity, but rather about teams that know how to lead with creativity in a more technologically complex world.”

Also Published in: Mediashotz